Summer Reads to Stay Up Late With

The end of the school year is nigh. Perhaps it’s this week, maybe it’s next, but either way, it’s nearly time to treat yo’self with what all teachers love to do in the summertime:

Take 84 naps, and then start binge reading.

This is what I did when my school year ended a few weeks ago, and after several days of excessive sleep, I started staying up late to finish books guilt-free.

Please forgive me for what I’m about to do to your Amazon carts while I gush over the titles that’ve kept me up until the wee hours, and their friends on my TBR list:

The Circle by Dave Eggers – This book was so plausible that it creeped me out. It’s the tale of an ambitious college grad who lands a job at one of the tech industry’s premier companies, The Circle, who so slowly ingratiate their surveillance, social sharing, and health-tracking apps into her life (and others’) that it seems like no big deal at all–until it is a big deal. This one kept me in suspense until 2 am, when I breathlessly finished it. Similar titles on my TBR include The Handmaid’s Tale, Dark Matter, andThe Dinner. Creeptastic!

A Twist in Timeby Julie McElwain – I’ve been anxiously awaiting this title since I read the first book in the series, A Murder in Time. Now that it’s here, I’ve already devoured half of its 600-page bulk, most of that on my wedding anniversary, no less. Kendra Donovan is a modern day FBI agent, a genetically-engineered genius who’s an outcast even amongst her fellow elite criminal profilers…or so she thinks, until she’s transported through time to the 1800s and really feels like an outcast. Now, she’s stuck there solving murders without the help of forensic equipment and techniques readily available to her in the 21st century…or any hope of getting home.

I think McElwain’s writing is a great blend of period-accurate details and modern, funny asides, and the story only further serves to suck me in. If you, too, find yourself craving a tale of time-traveling modern women, check outOutlanderor the National Book Award finalistNews of the World.

Textbookby Amy Krouse Rosenthal – I’ve been wanting to read this book since I read Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, but then got even more desperate to do so when I read Rosenthal’s heartbreaking essay in the New York Times, and then about her subsequent death. It’s impossible not to read this book through those lenses, and while it’s amazing on its own, it’s even more powerful as a magnum opus. I also want to check out similar memoirs like The Rules Do Not Apply, Hallelujah Anyway, andStrangers Tend to Tell Me Things

Goodbye Daysby Jeff Zentzler – I read this one in two days over Memorial Day weekend, largely ignoring our company to finish it that Sunday. I was sucked in on page one by the beautiful writing and the premise–a teen dealing with the fact that he sent a text message that led to the deaths of all three of his best friends–and I asked my friends if they’d read it. “I did,” Amy volunteered. “It ripped my guts.” And boy, did it. This was one of the first YA reads I’ve picked up lately that I really just couldn’t put down. I’d love to see how The Inexplicable Logic of My Life, A List of Cages, andThe First Time She Drownedcan measure up to this book.

Disrupting Thinkingby Kylene Beers & Bob Probst – Lisa has been so effusive about this book that I just had to go ahead and start reading it, even though I’ve been trying to wait until everyone else in the Book Love Summer Book Club dives in. But it’s so darn readable, and such a great refresher of a lot of the research I’ve read and loved. I always enjoy Beers and Probst for helping synthesize their wide reading into a crucible of new ideas. Other fabulous pedagogical reads on my TBR list this summer are Joy Write, No More Telling as Teaching, andWrite What Matters.

When Breath Becomes Airby Paul Kalanithi – This book hit home for me, and at quite a short length, I read it in one day–about half of it while on a treadmill! It’s the memoir of a neurosurgical resident who, near the end of his grueling training, finds out he has advanced stage cancer. My husband is entering his fourth year of orthopedic residency, so I read this book with a blend of horror at its possibilities and admiration for its author’s poise and eloquence. My gushing over it led to lots of our resident friends reading it with similar amounts of waterfall-like tears. After reading it in an afternoon, my hubby asked for some more books like it, so I ordered him Being Mortal, The House of God, andThe Buddha and the Borderline.

The Hate U Giveby Angie Thomas – I listened to this now-famous (in teacher circles, anyway) book on audio, and found myself driving or walking in circles so I could hear more faster. What impressed me most about this book wasn’t its nuanced treatment of the topic of police shootings, or its awesome one-liners, or its many layers of issues faced by its narrator, Starr. No, what impressed me most was how authentic to Angie’s life and personal history it seemed. After reading Between the World and Me, I learned a great deal about the roots of African-American empowerment and efforts for equality. Malcolm X, the Black Panthers, James Baldwin, and more had been strangers to me before that book, but I saw them come up again and again in The Hate U Give.

What’s kept you up late reading lately? What’s next on your TBR? Please share in the comments…so we can all go broke buying books!!

Shana Karnes teaches sophomore, junior, and senior preservice teachers at West Virginia University. She finds joy in all things learning, love, and literature as she teaches, mothers, and sings her way through life…and in the new knowledge that she has ANOTHER baby girl on the way!! Follow Shana on Twitter at @litreader.

I used AKR’s Textbook — the pre-assessment at the beginning — as the first mentor text in the PD I started facilitating last week. Generated some fun and insightful writing, a great way to quickly build a community of readers and writers!

The Hate U Give was amazing! I want to read Disrupting Thinking as well.
I finally read 13 Reasons Why and couldn’t put it down. Now I’m reading This Is Where It Ends by M. Nijkamp and it is so good! Play by play over the course of 42 minutes. Another book I want to read is Alex and Eliza while making sure I realize it is historical fiction. Also we are reading Adoration of Jenna Fox as a whole class novel next year so I will be reading that as well. I love your suggestions though.

I devoured The Hate U Give, too — it’s changed how I see the world. I signed up for Penny’s Book Love book club this summer, so I’m looking forward to reading A Prayer for Owen Meany — I’ve read other John Irving books, but not that one. Dark Matter was awesome — I’m making my husband read it. Another great read was The Sun is Also a Star — liked it even better than Everything, Everything. Thanks for your column!

I was lucky enough to receive an advanced and autographed copy of Textbook last summer. ❤ Disrupting Thinking is AMAZING, as is The Hate U Give. I have about 12 books on my summer reading list, many from Penny Kittle's book clubs list. I am currently reading Evicted by Matthew Desmond. Next is The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead. Then Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon. 🙂